slash83

Why Patriots acted quickly on Seymour trade; top five teams of '09

He brings up some good points, good read.

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Madden ID for ps3- bradydabest

mayoclinic

Nice read. I agree with a lot of what he says.

The Pats used Ron Brace a lot at DE in the preseason. I wonder whether we will see them move him around a lot the way the Ravens do Haloti Ngata, playing both 4-3 DT, 3-4 NT, and 3-4 DE. He shows much more quickness and penetration on the field than his timed numbers would suggest, and he has nice lateral movement for his size.

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Mack Herron

A reasoned perspective on trade that shall remain hypothetical until Sey gets on a plane.

mgteich

We shall see. There is a huge difference between preseason reps and the regular season. I look forward to seeing our four expereinced DL's (and one more if Belichick is willing). I expect to see alot of Warren, Willfork, Wright and Green. And when we go to the 4-3, I expect to see a lot of Burgess and Banta-Cain.

The patriots may indeed start or give a major role to rookie DL's this year, but not unless we are forced to do so.

Patriot_in_NY

To continue our conversation

Actually, to me, the big ?? (and it is a BIG question mark) is Green. Personally, I think he project's as a much better 4-3 DE then 3-4. He's lighter, faster and more aggressive then Sey, and I think that in a new scheme (that relies heavily on the 4-3), he could be much more of a beast them people give credit for. I think that he may surprise some this year.

BB was just on WEEI and while he did not give away the farm, he surely talked about 2001 and how the defense evolved from a primary 3-4 in games 1-10, to a 4-3 attacking defense in the last part of the season, which was basically DOMINANT. He said that change was predicated on the emergence and leadership of the middle linebacker position (at the time it was Bruschi). All preseason, we've listened to eveyrone talk about new young leadership at that position in Mayo.

Perhaps, in the off season, he had found a similar structure that will allow for a similar set-up. However, it's predicated by leadership at the MLB position and more speed up front. Burgess, Green and Wright represent that. If Brace and Pryor are farther ahead then we think, then coupled with the known Wilfork, Warren, we could be in good shape. Better then I think all of us realize.

It was illuminatiing to say the least. He made it seem that the MLB was the key to the style of D we had in the latter half of 2001, and the rest were just moving parts. That D was pretty good if I remember.

It was good stuff.

mgteich

First, I loved the 2001 season. However, we had the lowest level of talent to ever win a Super Bowl. We have much, much more talent this year.

With regard to the DL, I think Wright will be at least as important as Green. In any case, we have a very reasonable six-man rotation in Warren, Wilfork, Green, Wright, Burgess and Banta-Cain. In reality, five (without Banta-Cain) would probably be sufficient (absent injury) to give us a solid defensive line.

As is normally the case, I don't expect to see much of the rookies unless there are a couple of injuries. Ninkovich is also available at DE.
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It is the linebacker situation which is still a bit bothersome. Sure, we picked up three DE's who could play OLB, but what is our situation at linebacker? We have Thomas, Woods, Mayo, Guyton and Alexander. This seems a bit thin for a 19 game season, especially inside.

slash83

Good stuff man, this defense has the personal to become more of a 43 attacking defense. The big boys in the middle with Wilfork, Warren, and Brace; the speed on the edge with Burgess, Thomas, Green, TBC, Woods, Crable(jk). A stud MLB with Mayo and what should be a vastly improved secondary. Its sad to not have Seymour gone but I am excited to see what this defense could do, the potential to be really good is there.

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mgteich

To be blunt, unless we are cutting Wilfork, we have a base 3-4 2-gap defense. Wilfork is among the very best 3-4 NT's in the game, the linchpin of the defense.

Patriot_in_NY

We're getting closer, as we are agreeing on more stuff then we're disagreeing

True on your first statement, but if we could be dominant with lesser talent, then what could we be with significantly MORE talent. Hmmmmmmm?

We agree, Wright and Green could be lynchpins to this D. Both of them. We also agree that Banta-Cain, while providing great security in the event of injury, is a moving part, albeit, as very good one (in this system, as opposed that last TBC inclination we had ).

Burgess is big in all this too. Provided BETTER THEN AVERAGE speed and attack in passing situation (which we hope will be the norm in 2009, as teams try to keep up with the O).

We also agree at linebacker. A little thinner than I'd like for sure. However, BB once again went out of his way to prop up Guyton. Perhaps his assessment of him differs then a lot of us on here, but we probably have to defer to him on talent evaluation.

It will be interesting to say the least.

One this is for sure, the Offense has the potential to cover a few warts on D.

Agreed, but he also projects as a very good interior lineman in a 4-3 that will require a couple guys to keep out of the backfield too. It explains why both Vince and Sey were discussed with Oakland. It's one or the other going forward (for signing), but not both.